Economic History Today » calling plans

Compare different cell phone wireless carriers

warrenh — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:34:36 +0000

Let’s Compare Wireless Carriers

We’ve listed the five carriers in order or relative overall performance below, because we feel a carriers performance is most customers primary consideration when first considering a carrier. However, if you tend to travel a lot internationally or through backwash rural areas of the United States, the type of network that your carrier uses and the way you use your phone maybe worth examining as well. After the list below you will find our suggestions if you’ve decided to change your carrier and you want some advice on how to go about this complicated process.

VERIZON WIRELESS

How good - consistently a top performer in customers surveys by independent sources like Consumer Reports and in our own independent surveys. Always among the better national carriers in responsiveness to customer questions, inquiries and complaints. Networks – CDMA and analog. Verizon offers analog access on only a few of its new phones, which could mean less coverage in some rural areas of the country.

ALLTELL

How good – Alltel has been a consistent top performer in all three metro areas where they have sufficient data to rate it, but only three of course. Notably good for both connectivity and customer service in all areas, including helpfulness in responding to questions, inquiries or complaints. Networks – CDMA or analog.

T-MOBILE

How good - A solid consistent performer in all the metro areas where there is sufficient data to rate their service, but marred by lack of service in some places. Also ranked among the better providers in responsiveness to customers questions, inquiries and complaints. Networks - GSM only. Most of its phones can be used outside the United States because of this fact though.

CINGULAR

How good - Middle to low levels of consumer satisfaction with sound and voice quality. Static and busy circuits were common problems, as they have been in previous surveys conducted. Relatively low performance for helpfulness in handling customer questions, inquiries and complaints. Networks – Primarily GSM, some TDMA and analog. Most GSM phones can also be used in many parts of the world.

SPRINT

How good – One of the poorest performers in terms of overall performance and customer satisfaction. Had more dropped calls than other carriers in all situations? Sprint merged with Nextel in 2005, and out results do not include former Nextel customers or those who receive Nextel service from Sprint, because their phones operate on a different network than Sprint customers. Networks - Sprint uses CDMA but can roam using analog. If you’re ready to switch to a different cell service provider, here’s how to find a carrier more likely to meet your personal standards:

If you live in a major metropolitan area focus your search on the carriers at the top of the list, in most of these population centres there are up to three carriers to choose from when making your choice. To choose from the top carriers in your area, check the online coverage maps for each carrier at their Web sites, paying special attention to where you live, work and plan on traveling. These on line maps can vary in detail and accuracy, so you should go one step further and ask people you know who travel, work and live on the same streets as you which carrier they use and if they get consistently good service.

Depending on how often you use your cell phone while in rural areas or outside the continental United States, you’ll want to pay close attention to which network the carrier operates on. The major digital networks are CDMA (code division multiple access) and GSM (global system for mobile). The advantage of CDMA is that many CDMA phones incorporate analog backup for roaming in areas where a digital signal is unavailable. Many GSM phones, however, provide coverage in other countries, a plus for those of us planning to spend a lot of time away from home.

Once you choose a carrier, be sure to take advantage of the trial period most carrier offer. If you find that the service is poor of nonexistent in places where you need it most, cancel that contract and try another of the highly rated carriers on the list.

If you’ve settled on a carrier, you can go directly to its Web site and compare the plans it offers. As we’ve noted in the past, however, you might have to poke around a little to find the cheapest plan the carrier offers, or else call the carrier directly and ask. Comparing plans of different carriers is relatively simple at Web sites like Letstalk.com (click on Service Plans, then compare).

If the amount of shekels you spend is your primary concern, the best way to compare is on a per-minute basis. For example, when we recently checked rates for Tampa, Florida, Sprint and Verizon were both offering 450-minute plans for $39.99 a month, or about 9 cents a minute. T-Mobile offered 600 minutes for the same $39.99, or about 7 cents a minute.

If you only use your cell phone for roadside emergencies or make very few calls, consider a prepaid or “pay as you go” plan. When comparing prepaid plans, pay special attention to what the carrier charges per minute, how soon minutes expire, and whether your minutes can be roller over. Although we haven’t rated prepaid carriers, some of the major providers are T-Mobile, TracFone, Verizon, and Virgin. You can buy prepaid phones and refill minutes at electronics and office supply stores, as well as online and in Canada online or at specified stores.

Saying goodbye to your old carrier will be very easy if your contract has expired. Just ask your new carrier to switch your existing (and, by law, portable) cell number to your new cell phone. If however, you still have months or years to go on your contract with your current carrier, the switch is a little trickier, especially since you could be facing a whopping early termination fee. If you’re desperately unhappy with your plan and carrier, you may want to just pay the fee and get them out of your life forever. As much as we hate to admit it, paying a penalty of $150 to get out of a deal may be no worse then paying $50 month after month for service you’re not getting or drives you insane. Well that’s it for this hub, join me next time as we will talk about the new fee-based features cell phone makers are adding to your friend and some things to pay attention to. Happy talking!

Phoning across the world using the Internet

warrenh — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 18:08:06 +0000

Internet Phoning Grows Up

Recent surveys of customers using Voice over Internet Protocol shows increasingly happy customers, but nothing is perfect.

Tired of paying large telephone bills for traditional landline telephone service, looking for a little monetary relief from the onslaught of your progeny’s social needs and your wife’s marathon telephone sessions, take a look at the improved service of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP). Called VoIP by many users who are saving as much as $20 to $50 or more a month by using the service, it transmits your telephone calls over the same Internet network that delivers your e-mail messages.

Providers of this service are telephone companies, cable operators, and newcomers such as Vonage but check in the area your using your service in to find the one that suits you’re need best. Typically unlimited local and domestic long-distance plans cost around $25 to $40 a month, depending on your provider and services with you’re plan. Just about all include telephone features normally seen, such as voice mail, caller ID, and call waiting and additional services not available with a landline, such as the ability to make local calls with your home phone number even when globetrotting thousands of miles away from your residence.

The combination of price and services is heads above typical landlines, but does VoIP deliver on the promised services or is it just more hype. Surveys conducted by industry specialists with individuals who have used this emerging technology for at least one year indicate customers are generally satisfied with the service provided. Over fifty percent indicated their telephone bills had dropped and the level of service about the same as traditional landline service.

Users indicated dissatisfaction with issues like the 911 emergency service so we suggest you keep your landline even if you opt for VoIP for day to day use.

Around fifty percent of the VoIP consumers surveyed cited reducing local and domestic long-distance phone bills was the main factor in their decision to try VoIP. Surveys indicated that around 80% of users with lower bills saved around $20 a month, and 34% saved over $40 or more. Sound quality and unreliability were not an issue they had to live with to achieve the monetary savings provided by this emerging technology.

Around 57% of those surveyed who used both VoIP and landline service reported Internet phone calls sounded at least as good as calls made on their traditional landline phone, while the other 43% said their landline always sounds better.

Half the consumers with VoIP and a landline reported no difference in their ability to make and receive calls reliably, but the rest were split down the middle in rating either VoIP or landline as the most reliable.

Generally, users of both VoIP and a cell phone reported Internet phoning to have more reliable connections that their cell phone and comparable sound quality.

While many of those surveyed had no problems with VoIP, almost 33% reported at least one dropped call or difficulty making or receiving calls within a week of the surveys and some had occasional problems listening to callers or being heard by callers.

The typically positive reports of VoIP user’s maybe piques your interest in buying the VoIP service, but here are a few things you should be aware of before signing on the dotted line.

You will probably be moving to a new phone company that provides the VoIP service, some landline and wireless providers, such as AT&T and Verizon, offer VoIP service, but you’ll also encounter names you haven’t associated with telephone service. Including cable giants like Cablevision and Time Warner Cable, as well as businesses that specialize in VoIP, like one of the largest mainstream VoIP providers Vonage, a VoIP only provider.

The good thing about VoIP is you can use any standard touch-tone phone with the service, and the person you’re contacting doesn’t need special equipment or Internet access to receive your calls. Typically you plug your phone into an analog telephone adapter, called an ATA, which you can purchase at a retail store near you for about $100 or less; some companies even provide one at little or no expense to the user. The adapter hooks to a router or modem, which in turn connects up to the cable or DSL line that serves as your broadband connection.

Only one phone needs to be connected to the VoIP adapter, but if you have more than one phone connected to the line you can use a cordless phone with several handsets or a multiple-jack device with the adapter. You could use the existing phone wiring and jacks to plug your phones into the VoIP line, but only if your willing to give up your landline, which we don’t recommend just yet.

You might be able to have your landline phone number reassigned to the VoIP line you’re planning on using, but only if you cut your landline service and as we said this is not recommended. It will take a few weeks for the transfer to go through, so you’ll be using a temporary number during the transition period. The only exception to this rule is if you’re using a broadband access is through DSL, in this case you may have to keep your current number for that line and get a new number for the VoIP line.

If you would rather have a new phone number with your new VoIP line, you can usually choose the area code yourself.

Like any service VoIP has its drawbacks it clearly isn’t for everyone, some of the reason indicated for not using the service are. It requires a broadband Internet connection that can cost up to $30 to $45 if you have in installed so you can use VoIP. You will need to know the ins and outs of a computer to get VoIP up and running, about 40% of those who installed it themselves reported problems and even experts can have problems. They said it took them more than two hours to install, several return visits or even some replacement hardware to get it up and running. If you lose power or you’re internet connection at your residence your VoIP phone won’t work, we suggest buying a backup battery that will provide about four to six hours of talk time. Security is an issue with any emerging technology using the Internet because of the risk of vulnerability to viruses, hackers, and denial of service, but no incidents have been reported so far.

The bottom line indicates the need to deal with potential problems associated with the phone service to make it work, but VoIP will increase the time you can talk on the phone, save you shekels on you’re phone costs and add useful features not seen on with typical landline phone service. We urge you to keep a corded phone requiring no power and a traditional landline for emergency situations if you do opt for the VoIP phone though.

Looking for a new cell phone deal

warrenh — Wed, 10 Oct 2007 16:30:44 +0000

How To Find The Best Cell Phone Deal

After bringing you the best cell phones in the world the we would feel irresponsible if we didn’t tell you how to find the best deal for the phone, service provider and calling plan.

Cell phones rock! But if you thought choosing your last piece of Star Trek spawned technology, service provider, and calling plan was tough as asking a Klingon to refuse a physical challenge, just wait until you use the list of the world’s best cell phones to find one and try it. The convoluted puzzles that are the latest plans are confusing to figure out and the multitude of phones themselves have become complex beyond comprehension to the average Mary or Joe. Digital camera are commonplace on even the most basic of models, and MP3 players are increasingly popular. With each new feature hatching new services and new costs as manufacturers rush to be the first to bring new, innovative, features onto the marketplace and reap the financial benefits.

This is where we can help by providing you with the information to make your own informed choices about the cell phone, service provider and calling plan you choose. If your planning on replacing your phone check out my hub “The Best Web Browsing Phones In The World”, but if your looking for a better deal on your service provider and calling plan then the last one you had, stick around we have what your looking for here.

If your just looking for a new cell phone because the contract with your carrier is up, check to see which cell phones will work with your present carrier. Unless your familiar with the model your considering purchasing, there is no substitute for visiting a walk-in store and assessing the feel of the model your considering with your own hands. Surveys indicate readers experiences have been better with online transactions, so you might get better results completing the deal online.

In a recent survey of 18,000 subscribers of Consumer Reports, 65% of respondents to the survey bought a cell phone from a service provider’s Web site and were completely satisfied with the service, compared to 55% who bought at the provider’s walk-in store.

When browsing for a new cell phone or carrier, don’t be swayed by someone offering you a discount, discounts have become the standard, with 89% of the people involved in the survey saying they got one.

If you want to try a new provider, competition is a good thing. In a separate survey conducted by industry experts; nearly twenty-five percent of respondents reported switching to a new carrier during the first three years, mostly due to poor service. If this struck a nerve then start looking for a new provider here.

A prospective buyer should note that even if your happy with your current cell phone, chances are you won’t be able to take it with you when you go to a new provider. This is because providers sometimes use incompatible networks, but also because providers “lock” their phones electronically to discourage customers from going to another provider. A recent federal ruling allows consumers to unlock their cell phones for use with other networks, but this can only be done easily with a few cell phones.

If you have a cell phone that works on the GSM network, used by T-Mobile and Cingular, ask the new provider whether your old phone will work on their network. Even if you can keep using your old cell phone though you may have to pay your new provider or a third party, such as www.unlockmyphonenow.com, $10 to $40 to free it up. Unfortunately, if your phone works on the older CDMA network if probably can’t be transferred to your new provider, so your next option may be to donate or recycle it. For more information on what to do with an old cell phone, visit the website www.GreenerChoices.org.

If your under contract currently switching providers in the middle of the contract can have financial consequences, with you paying around $200 in early termination fees per phone number. If you can tolerate your existing service, try living with the contract until it is over, it will simplify you’re life.

If the price is the issue, remember you can usually make a deal with the provider to move to one of your current carrier’s other plans, without additional financial penalties. But be aware that switching can mean having to extend your current contract, pay new activation fees, or surrender any rollover minutes you’ve accumulated while using your original agreement.

Surveys indicate that nearly half of respondents who switched plans did so because they wanted more minutes, a move that can save you nasty charges for exceeding your monthly allotment. But, if you don’t use your cell phone much, consider switching to a more basic monthly plan with fewer minutes and this will save you money.

Replacing your cell phone is usually not a good idea while your still under contract with a provider, unless you absolutely need to, because the carrier or other authorized dealer won’t be as generous with discounts. If you have lost or broken your cell phone and don’t want to pay through the nose for a replacement, don’t worry, you can often find a less expensive replacement on eBay or other related websites.

That’s it for this hub, look for additional hubs on related material to this article in the next few days, I will be talking about my survey of carriers and which one maybe the best for your needs and purposes. Happy phoning!